


words spoken

by nightdotlight



Series: (not quite gold) [3]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Alice in Wonderland References, Book/Movie: Prince Caspian, Other, Victorian era, Worldbuilding, meanwhile in china, references to alice’s adventures in wonderland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:40:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightdotlight/pseuds/nightdotlight
Summary: for him, it has been centuries; but he knows, as he sits on the bed, that that doesn’t really matter. what matters now is that he makes the most of what he has.





	words spoken

They found him washed up on the beach, they told him.

 

He is lucky to be alive, they told him.

 

His family have been notified and are on the way, they told him.

 

He took it all in, nodding absently, and quietly considered in his own head whether he even had any family left.

 

It had been a week, a week since his last day in Narnia. There, as the Consul, he had turned fifty-seven, the days rapidly approaching his country's twentieth year of peace under his rule, the rule of the Consul.

 

It was odd, he thought, how only seven days ago, he had been and felt an adult rapidly approaching sixty— old and hopefully wise, he thought, having watched generations of Narnians pass, having taught every single one— yet now, back in Hong Kong, only three years had passed, his body once more youthful, his mind just as young. Those days when he had been the Consul— well, he thought, they felt so very far away.

 

There was no doubt to him that this was Aslan's doing, the forced return of his body and mind to youth. When he had been in Narnia, he had been able to with minimal effort draw upon the experience collated over two centuries of life there: yet, as he tried to use it now, he found himself unable to. He could remember his experiences, yes; but they were no longer useful to him as a basis for decisions made in the here or now.

 

Kai Jin knew from his many studies that until a person was twenty-one years of age, they were unable to muster the ability of truly rational decision-making. He was sure that, if he were to attempt as such, he would be barred from that also.

 

On the outside, the now orphan Kai Jin sat solemnly on his bed, quiet and seemingly blank.

 

Inside, he openly wept; in grief for his loss and the loss of his friends, in worry for Narnia now that they had lost their rulers, in fear for his own future. Would he even be allowed to return there, to his true home? Could his dear country survive the no doubt fast approaching attacks on its capital, brought on by an opportunistic lust for greater land? What could he do now, set adrift in an uncaring, indifferent world where he would be met with disgust and cruelty merely for his ethnicity?

 

These questions haunted him, sitting motionless on the bed for hours upon bed, laying over the covers at night with unseeing eyes wide open until exhaustion forced him under waves of darkness.

 

Eventually, his family arrived— his father's sister and her husband, who greeted him tearfully. They spoke of how wondrous it was that he had survived, how they had cried when they heard the news of the boat's crash, and then again when they received word of his survival, how glad they were that he might have a second chance at life.

 

They brought him back home, to an apothecary began by his uncle's grandparents, where under the watchful eyes of his relatives, Kai Jin began to acclimatise to being back in Hong Kong, bit by bit. At first it was odd to converse in Cantonese, he found, having defaulted to Narnian for so long, and it took effort to master the knack behind measuring herbs and medicines accurately— but before long, he found himself settling back into the life he had abandoned for so long.

 

Of course, he could not tell anyone of what he had done for the three years he had been missing, and he knew nothing of progress made in that time, for he had not been around: for this reason, it was widely thought that he had _amnesia, poor child, having been lost and alone for so long, parents dead, of course—_ and he didn't correct them, for however did one go about convincing one's relatives of a magical world where you were the non-royal leader of a monarchy, as well as the sole architect of a big castle commissioned by a magic lion?

 

Kai Jin refrained from mentioning such things— he did not want to end up in Bedlam, after all. Bedlam, where those known to be 'mental' or 'wrong in the head' were locked up and displayed like animals, gaped at by the gentry like one would gape at something grotesquely fascinating and quite odd— the patients themselves mistreated, with no effort made to help them.

 

No, as much as Kai Jin abhorred such treatment of fellow human beings, he wished not to end up there himself.

 

Instead, he merely hoped that one day, he would return to Narnia.

 

In the meantime, however, he resolved to do as well as he could in the here and now, no matter how difficult it would undoubtedly become.

 

~~

 

At first, the time passed slowly— then, as he filled his days with more and more to do, jumping from piano lessons with one of their elderly neighbors in exchange for helping her with housekeeping to learning Wing Chun from workers in the harbour, taking on odd jobs wherever he could.

 

Narnia seemed worlds away, but he didn't mind it, instead filling that heavy emptiness in his heart with extra shifts in the apothecary and knowledge gleaned from English sailors in the harbour. He hadn't missed the strain his presence put on the small family: only two weeks after his own arrival, his aunt had given birth, their family's finances woefully unprepared for two arrivals at once. Ignoring their protests that it was fine, he began to take on more and more work outside his own independent studies, his aunt and uncle unable to afford schools— all of which were private, and by no means inexpensive.

 

Even as his youngest cousins grew old enough to take on more work, beginning for the first time their own shifts in the family shop, Kai did not let up in his busy lifestyle, instead spending even more time at the harbour. As it turned out, lifting and stacking heavy boxes of rations and goods to trade was good exercise, and it didn't exactly pay badly, either.

 

What's more, as he grew older, Kai found that more and more sailors paid attention to the young man with sharp eyes and an even sharper mind. Where before he would be lucky to ensnare their attention for a moment or two, now he found that he could have whole conversations with the sailors, some even seeking him out to converse.

 

It took a while, but after a time of this routine, it could be seen that even the naval captains took notice of the boy— by now a young man of sixteen, whose frame had significantly strengthened from the strenuous lifting and the movement inherent in martial arts, though he remained slight. They watched him as he moved across the harbour, aiding in manual labour and chatting idly with the sailors they employed. Once or twice, he even debated, thoroughly outmanoeuvring his opponents verbally. On the rare occasion that such a debate escalated into fighting, he proved himself capable of self-defence, fighting with a practised grace and the artistic movements practised in temples around the country.

 

One day, one such captain even approached him, intending to scope the extent of the boy's alleged 'genius' for himself.

 

He was in no way disappointed. Where he had expected mediocrity over-zealously reported upon by the denizens of his vessel, instead he found a a true gem. The boy had sharp, observant eyes, a good work ethic, and intelligence utterly blistering in its intensity.

 

The captain offered him a job on the spot, even going so far as to return to the boy's guardians.

 

Although the owners of the apothecary— and wasn't that something, finding out that this already indispensable talent was also well-versed in basic medicine— were understandably reluctant, and worried for their nephew's safety, when they saw his clear enthusiasm, they agreed for the boy to join the crew of the captain's ship when he docked in the harbour the next year, by which time he would be seventeen— old enough to enlist in the Royal Navy.

 

The captain grinned. He had a feeling that he had just made one of the best decisions of his life.

 

~~

 

It was at the peak of the next year's summer when the Captain docked once more, this time one crew member short, his eldest sailor having remained in London with his heavily pregnant wife. The rest of the crew anxiously scanned the harbour for the young man who was to be joining them— many already knew him, having been the ones to inform their commanding officer of the outstanding talent that they had met upon the seafront.

 

Above, the sun beat down overhead, providing ample visibility: and sure enough, it did not take long for a sailor to spot the infamous Kai Jin as he stacked boxes, linen shirt tied around his waist to ward off the omnipresent heat thick in the air. When the sailors yelled and waved, he looked round before cracking a grin, finishing his work before jogging over to the boat as it docked, pulling back on the white linen garment over darkly tanned skin.

 

It was on their second-to-last day in the harbour that he officially joined the crew, for the first time donning the white uniform of the Royal Navy. It was so far from anything he had worn in Narnia, Kai thought— but perhaps that was a good thing, for in this clothing he felt that he could be free of the omnipresent longing that cut at his heart.

 

Adventuring on the sea would do him some good, he thought.

 

That day, he was expected to learn of what he would do upon the ship— learn he did, and fast, the sailors chipping in to help where he struggled.

 

It was surprising to the young man, having expected to be treated as second-class here, too, his genes and appearance marking him as other among the other quite obviously caucasian sailors: but instead, it was here that Kai Jin found equality among men, where everyone's lives depended upon equal effort from all.

 

~~

 

As he had thought, the waves did Kai Jin a veritable world of good. During the two years he spent as part of the navy, he found that for the first time since he had awoken in that bed four years preceding his first voyage, he could let go.

 

Staring out across the horizon, wooden deck rocking beneath his feet, a warm and friendly arm stretched over his shoulders, Kai began to heal, his many experiences as the Consul dulling as his youth was well and truly replenished by the friends he made, the places he visited, the experiences he had a part in.

 

Aboard their ship, which he had learned was named the _Trafalgar_ , Kai Jin was himself again; though, he wagered, he was a far more different version of himself than he had been ever before.

 

Back in Narnia, he had been stiff and often indifferent with younger children, something he often regretted, as he had little experience in interaction with those so young. In the years he had spent with his aunt, uncle and cousins, he had nurtured a new love of speaking with young children. They were so innocent, sweet, and observant in his own way. Truly, the young man had grown since his return to the 1850s, leaving far behind him the elderly Consul that he had once been.

 

Once, his visions— for they still came, though mostly as dreams— had shown him a book, the title of which he had left with his aunt and uncle to buy once it came out. It was a quote from this book, Kai thought, that encapsulated the truth of the subject perfectly.

 

_"It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."_

 

It was true indeed, thought Kai Jin— for after all, the person he was now felt a million years away from the person he had been during Narnia's Golden Age. After all, right now he was merely seventeen years old, and a sailor to boot: both things he never could have dreamed of back then.

 

Yet, he knew that given the chance, he would return to Narnia without a second thought. The idea of leaving his newfound life, his newfound family— both sent sharp pangs of pain through his soul.

 

That pain would quickly fade if he returned though, he knew, just as those he left behind would adjust to his absence, and live without him. His aunt and uncle already received an amount of his wages, as thanks for taking care of him, so they would be okay until their children were old enough to work, and he hoped that what he had put aside to be given to them posthumously would be enough to fund the educations of little Hui and Jia, both of whom he hoped would remember him through the books he had read and games he had played with them. He knew Hui, especially, would enjoy Alice's Adventures in Wonderland once it came out, and read it to their younger sister (though she was yet to be born, and he knew little about).

 

Indeed, yesterday he was a different person, and tomorrow he would be different again.

 

He wondered if the same would be true for Narnia, his gift having shown him little.

 

~~

 

The _Trafalgar_ was on its way back to Hong Kong for the beginning of its third circumnavigation when disaster struck, the ship running aground near to the south coast of the African continent.

 

Before the crew knew it, water was pouring through the hull, the skies rapidly dimming as clouds coagulated in the heavens. Petrichor hung heavy in the atmosphere, the scent of impending disaster thick as treacle in the humid air.

 

The signs in nature were not wrong. Just as promised, calamity quickly arrived and left, the viper-quick strike of catastrophe wrecking the boat beyond repair and tossing the crew into the waves.

 

Kai had survived wrecks before, had helped with repairs in the nearest harbour.

 

Never before, however, had he ever experienced something like this.

 

Screaming in panic, the crew swam to each other, clinging to any driftwood they could.

 

One of their number, however, sank further and further beneath the waves; blood oozing from his head wound, caused by the impact of a plank of wood, his lungs steadily filling with water, black locks wafting deceptively gently in the currents under the maelstrom above the waves.

 

(The next day, the crew of the _Trafalgar_ would wash up on a beach in South Africa, mercifully unharmed save for minor injuries. One of their number, however, did not make it, and the Royal Navy would forever remember the brave Kai Lan Jin, the courageous sailor who had lost his life at sea in protection of the rest of his crew.

 

His aunt and uncle cried, as did his cousins, and they never ceased to miss him; as she was born and grew up, they spoke often to the young Mei of her brave cousin.

 

Kindness, courage, wisdom and above all searing intelligence— it was for these that Kai Jin was remembered by his family and all that had known him. His legacy was quiet, but powerful; and if the Pevensies were ever told stories by the young Chinese sailor serving in the Royal Navy of his great-great-great uncle in whose footsteps he had followed, of his great bravery, none of them ever said anything.)

 

All this happened; a million miles away, in an entirely different world, Kai Jin's eyes opened for the first time in years to behold a Narnian sky.


End file.
